Graham

The stands are great. I bought 3 from s i t h l o r d and cannot recommend them highly enough. My stands are currently being used to display: - 1) 1/48 VF-1A Hikaru w/FPs, fighter mode w/gear up. 2) 1/60 VE-1 fighter mode w/gear up. 3) 1/72 VF-19A fighter mode w/gear up. Graham

The second set will come in February 2004, but it has not been announced which characters will be featured yet. My advice is to preorder as soon as possible as the first set sold out very quickly and many people missed out. Graham

I don't think the VF-1J FP will come with a Strike Cannon. I'm planning to buy one non-FP VF-1J and one VF-1J w/FP. I'll display one in fighter mode and one in battroid mode However, the FPs along with one set of TV hands and one Hikaru TV pilot will be transfered to a spare Focker VF-1S, to make a TV accurate VF-1S. Graham

Hmm....tough choice. The VF-1Js (Hikaru, Max & Millia) are beautiful toys with great head sculpts and nice paint jobs, but in the end I chose the VT-1. It just looks so nice in fighter mode with the FPs and it locks together so solidly. Graham

Not interested. As others have said, there are plenty of F14 models/toys already available from other manufactures. Plus a 1/48 F14 would take up too much valuable shelf space. My money and shelf space is reserved for transforming Macross toys. Graham

Woo Hoo! According to Kanto Hobby, the GFF # 0017a & b Z-Plus C1 red & Blue should hit stores in Hong Kong this coming Tuesday 23rd September! Guess who's going to Mong Kok on his lunch break on Tuesday. Graham

Heh, That's a great moto.....and so true. Can I use it for my signature? Ya know, it gets me that people are complaining about the lack of a GPB together with the VF-1J. I bet if Yamato had announced they were releasing the GBP together with the VF-1J then we would have people complaining that it is too expensive. Whatever you do, you just can't win! It's a case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'. Oh well, like they say 'you can't please all the people all of the time' (or ever). Sometimes I wish people would be at least just a little bit grateful. Graham

Of course, I knew this a month ago already, but like most stuff I have a gag order preventing me from telling anybody And it is really frustrating having to read endless post complaing about Yamto forcing people to buy the toy w/FPs, when actually I knew they were going to give people a choice of with and without. Graham

Perhaps in the case of the VF-22/YF-21 it's just a case of more armour protection for the pilot in battroid mode. Unlike most other Valks which have either a sliding heatshield to protect the pilot in battoid mode (VF-1, VF-11) or the cockpit is protected by moving inside the body (YF-19, VF-17), the VF-22/YF-21 leaves the cockpit very exposed in battroid mode. Graham

That's exactly what I'm planning as well, get the TV FPs just to put on the Roy VF-1S. I'll also try to order some extra TV type hands and an extra TV type Hikaru pilot figure to make a TV accurate VF-1S Super (remember, Roy never flew the VF-1S Super in the TV series, he died before the FPs came into use). the only other thing that will need changing is the color of the arrows on the head (DYRL is yellow, TV is black). Graham

The VF-1 starting from block 6 manufacture (the type we see in DYRL) had the holographic HUD, which allowed symbols to be displayed anywhere on the canopy. So as long as the threat is picked up by the various passive or active sensors on the VF, the holographic HUD can display threat direction at the appropriate position on the canopy. This type of holographic HUD is also seen in the VF-11B in the opening fight of Macross Plus episode # 1. Presumably there is also an audible warning to alert pilots of the direction of an approaching enemy or missile(s). Some VFs obviosly have better canopy visibility than others. Probably the top contenders would be the VF-11 and VF-5000, which has a very high mounted bubble canopy. For dogfighting, the canopy with the worst visibility would have to be on the VF-17, although I imagine that holographic HUD and advanced sensors probably make up for the poor visibility at least to some degree. Mind you, I think the VF-17 was designed as more of a strike fighter rather than a pure dogfighter, although for most of Macross 7, it seems to serve as a rapid response interceptor. Graham

Good job Mcpaz. You have saved me some work. I had actually compiled the figures on an Excel spreadsheet, but hadn't updated it past page 11. Graham

Yes, it's confirmed that the Hikaru VF-1A and Roy VF-1S are being reissued in late October along with the new release of the VF-1S Hikaru. I'm 99.99% sure the reissues will have the updated nose cones, radars and flaps as the molds for these parts have been modified, it doesn't make sense to change them back again. Graham

How can there be an Alien Quadrilogy box set when there have only ever been two (2), I repeat TWO Alien movies ever made? Oh, and just for the record, there is only one Highlander movie as well. Graham

Found this link on another forum I sometimes visit. As we have quite a lot of aviation enthusiasts here, thought you might appreciate this WMV movie. Warning: graphic language by shell shocked reporter. Spitfire Low Pass Of course, it would have been even better if he had been doing an Isamu and flying upside down Graham

I've owned 4 HCMs in the past 15 years and presently still own 3. None of the fingers on mine have ever broken. In fact, no parts have broken at all. Despite many people claiming that the HCM is fragile (when most of them don't actually own one), I've personally found it to be a very sturdy toy. About the only part you need to take care with are the VF-1S's head lasers which are quite thin and stiff to rotate. And yes, I do prefer the HCM to both the MPC and the Taka/Bandai 1/55. Graham

Yes, the 1/48 VF-1J Hikaru is confimed and will be released in either November or December, after the VF-1S Hikaru, which is being released in late October. The VF-1J Hikaru may or may not be sold together as a set with the 1/48 TV type FAST packs, this has not been confirmed yet. Graham

Heh, that means if I was into computer games and bought this game then I could finally fufil my dream of playing as Gamlin and using my VF-17D to blow the crap out of Basara's VF-19kai Graham

For those of you who think the black heatshields look better on the Hikaru VF-1S, you can always try to order a black 1/48 heatshield through Monkey-N (Rob). See the thread here. Graham

Oh well, too late. I sold mine recently. Graham

And it would take 26 half hour episodes just to finish a single game Graham

Hmmmm. Link me to a pic... The only Hikaru DYRL 1S toy I have ever seen was the one made by Bandai, and that had a BLACK heatshield. Don't forget the Bandai 1/72 HCM VF-1S Hikaru, that had a red heatshield! And of course, even Bandai later made a correct red clip on heatshield for the 1/55 VF-1S Strike Valkyrie. See here. Banpresto made an SD VF-1S Hikaru with red heatshield and removable Strike Armor a couple of years ago. Graham

Get both. If I had to choose though, it would be Hikaru as I've always prefered his colors over Roy's. Graham

There can be only one! Graham

Macross is my main passion. I'm also into lot's of other stuff, but not to anywhere like the same degree of seriousness. I also used to be heavily into IPSC shooting and used to own a Glock 21, Glock 17, S&W 745, S&W 629 and a Remington 870. However, the high expense of shooting in HK, not to mention the restrictive gun laws here meant I had to give that up. May get back into it later tho. Also into martial arts. Used to study Wing Chun, but have decided to switch to Kali (first lesson tonight), wish me luck. I also like cats and have 4 at the moment. Seems like lots of MW members like cats. Wonder if there is a connection between cats and Macross? Graham